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1993 European Grand Prix
1993 European Grand Prix |image = |caption = Race 3 of 16 in the 1993 Formula One season |Date = 11 April 1993 |Official name = XXXVIII Sega European Grand Prix |Location = Donington Park 4.023 km (2.500 mi) |Distance = 76 laps, 305.748 km (190.000 mi) |Weather = Rain with dry spells |Driver = Alain Prost (Williams-Renault) |Time = 1:10.458 |Driver 2 = Ayrton Senna (McLaren-Ford) |Time 2 = 1:18.029 on lap 57 |First = Ayrton Senna (McLaren-Ford) |Second = Damon Hill (Williams-Renault) |Third = Alain Prost (Williams-Renault)}}The 1993 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Donington Park on April 11, 1993. It was the third round of the 1993 Formula One season. The race was notable for the dominance of Ayrton Senna. Report Background Tom Wheatcroft's dreams of taking Formula One to Donington Park finally came true after plans to hold an Asian Grand Prix at Nippon Autopolis flopped. The weather at Donington was miserable for most of the weekend. There were several new cars, the most significant being the Benetton B193B, which had been rushed out in an attempt to improve the team's performance as the early races had seen embarrassing defeats at the hands of McLaren, using customer Ford engines, while Benetton was supposed to be the Ford factory team. Footwork had the new FA14. Elsewhere in the field Ivan Capelli had been dropped by the Jordan team and had been replaced by Thierry Boutsen. Qualifying Friday was ruined by rain but it was sunny for Saturday qualifying and there was no big surprise to see Alain Prost and Damon Hill on the front row of the grid in their Williams-Renaults. Michael Schumacher was third in his new Benetton with Ayrton Senna fourth in his McLaren-Ford. Fifth on the grid was a good showing for the new Sauber team with Karl Wendlinger while Michael Andretti was sixth in the second McLaren. The top 10 was completed by JJ Lehto in the second Sauber, Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi in their Ferraris and Riccardo Patrese in the second Benetton. Race At the start, it was damp and Schumacher blocked Senna and both lost time and Wendlinger took third. Having dropped to fifth, Senna quickly passed Schumacher at the third corner. He then went after Wendlinger, passing him through the Craner Curves with Schumacher and Andretti trying to follow through. Schumacher went through but Andretti hit Wendlinger and both were out. Senna went after Hill now and took second at McLean's Corner. Now Prost was the target and the lead was taken at the penultimate corner - the Melbourne Hairpin. Going into the second lap, Senna led Prost, Hill, Barrichello (who had started 12th), Schumacher and Lehto. The track began to dry and everyone pitted for dry tyres. Lehto was fifth, having started from the pit lane, but he retired with handling problems on lap 14. Berger took the place but he too retired with suspension problems six laps later. It rained again and the leaders now pitted for wets. Schumacher stayed out and was leading but spun off on lap 23 because he was on the wrong tyres. The track began to dry and everyone pitted once again with Senna having a problem and losing 20 seconds. Prost now led Senna, Hill, Rubens Barrichello, Derek Warwick and Herbert. It began to rain and the two Williams stopped for wets while Senna stayed out. It was the correct decision because it began to dry again. The Williams stopped yet again for dries. Prost stalled in the pits in his stop and when he rejoined, he was a lap behind and down in fourth. Barrichello was now second but it rained and then stopped again. He went to the pits twice and by now Hill was in second, albeit a lap down. Barrichello, third, had trouble with his fuel pressure and retired, giving the place to Prost. Senna set the fastest lap on lap 57, on a lap when he drove into the pitlane but aborted the pit stop, showing that there actually was a shortcut through the pitlane. This is due to the grand prix configuration of Donington, which has the pit entry before the final hairpin corner onto the start/finish straight. This is possibly the only fastest lap in modern F1 history set by driving through the pitlane. Senna won from Hill and Prost, having made four pit stops in the wet-dry conditions compared to Prost's seven, which is a record that stands as of 2011. Johnny Herbert finished fourth for Lotus by stopping only once while all the other finishing drivers stopped in the pits several times. Patrese and Barbazza took the last two points scoring places. By the end, Senna had lapped the entire field except for one car and finished over a minute ahead of second place Damon Hill. Donington Park.svg|Donington Park Senna_1993_European_GP.jpg|Senna on his way to victory Rainer-nybergc2a01.jpg|Podium Classification Qualifying Race Standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Constructors' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References #http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_European_Grand_Prix #http://www.statsf1.com/en/1993/europe.aspx #http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr535.html Category:1993 Races Category:European Races Category:Races